Resisting resilience: disrupting discourses of self-efficacy

Webster, David R and Rivers, Nicola (2019) Resisting resilience: disrupting discourses of self-efficacy. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 27 (4). pp. 523-535. doi:10.1080/14681366.2018.1534261

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Abstract

This paper addresses the turn towards discourses of resilience within Higher Education, and its shared conceptual space with notions of ‘grit’ or the promotion of a Growth Mindset. Of particular concern is how these discourses reinforce simplistic conceptualizations of students as ‘millennial snowflakes’ in need of ‘toughening up’. Whilst acknowledging the realities of student anxiety, and engaging with the precarity of employment within the sector, we contend that discourses of resilience threaten to mask systemic issues in favour of promoting individual change. By interrogating these seemingly benign discourses we seek to highlight the neoliberal underpinnings of narratives of resilience.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Resilience; Neoliberalism; Snowflakes; Millennials; Precarity; Higher education
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts
Research Priority Areas:	Culture, Continuity, and Transformation
Depositing User:	David Webster
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2018 12:00
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:54
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6113

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